Remembering the night that I met Santa Claus!

They’re always have been major dilemmas in life and even for a boy of eight summers back in the 1960s, one of the great fixations around Christmas time, was to catch a glimpse of Santa Claus . . . the real Santa Claus. In truth, the best chance of seeing ‘The Man Himself’ in those days was to try and catch a glimpse of the ‘real fella’ as trips to town or the city to see the ‘shop santees’ were few and far between.

The task of trapping the real Santa, should not have been that impossible given that his hours of arrival could normally be whittled down to between midnight and 6am on the morning of the 25th, while the location was always the kitchen where he made his entry either via the conventional front door or by more surreptitious means.

A year of two previously, I had awoken in an upstairs bedroom to hear strange noises emanating from the kitchen area of the dead of night, but after that little burst of activity, was followed by footsteps up the stairs by my father and mother, I took it as a ‘given’ that they had just gone down to check the fire in the old Stanley 8 range.

“Is there anyone there?” I piped out, a simple question that seemed to initially catch them on the hop. “No, no one has arrived yet,” my father replied, followed by the line that ensured I would not travel downstairs. “Remember, if you’re not asleep,” he won’t come, and for a moment or two, I kind of felt an ember of enmity towards the old traveller from the North Pole.

My mind started to spin with questions. “Surely Santa couldn’t punish me by not coming if I decided to stay awake”. But did I know that for sure: there could be evidence out there that in previous cases, he had whizzed by houses without dropping in, after his magical powers had deduced that the expectant children had not fallen asleep.

Sleep never did seem to come easy on Christmas Eve night, even if quite deliberate efforts had been made by ‘the parents’ to burn us out during the day with a range of physical activities from minor chores to outdoor games.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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